Understanding Language 3e - Chapter 1
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  6. Chapter 5
  7. Chapter 6
  8. Chapter 7
  9. Chapter 8
  10. Chapter 9
  11. Chapter 10
  12. Chapter 11
  13. Chapter 12
  14. Chapter 13
  15. Chapter 14

Chapter 1:  What Every Native Speaker Secretly Understands 


Consider the following questions 

  1. What attitudes do you, or others, have about non-standard varieties spoken in your country? Which varieties are considered prestigious or undesirable? Why? 
  2. If you speak a non-standard variety, what attitudes do others have about your own speech? Have you ever been criticized for the way you speak? Explain. 
  3. Do you ever use English that isn’t proper? When? Why?
  4. Which well-known people or celebrities use non-standard varieties of English in either real life or on television? Pick one and explain what it is about his or her dialect that makes it interesting.


Suggested Readings

Bauer, L. & Trudgill, P. (1999). Language Myths. Penguin Books.
Bergman, A, Hall, K., & Ross, S.  (2007). Language Files. 10th Edition. The Ohio State University.
Crystal, D. (2003). The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language. Cambridge University Press.
Matthews, P. H. (2006). Linguistics: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press.
McGregor, W. Linguistic: An Introduction. Continuum.
McWhorter, J. (2003). The Power of Babble. NY: Perennial. 
O'Grady, W., Archibald, J., Aronoff, M., & Miller, J. R. (2009). Contemporary Linguistics. Bedford/St. Martin.
Parker, F. & Riley, K. (2010). Linguistics for Non-Linguists. 5th Edition. Allyn & Bacon. 
Pinker, S.  (2007) The Language Instinct: How the Mind Creates Language. Harper Collins.
Sharpe, P. (2009). Language: The Big Picture. Continuum.

Interesting Websites 

  1. Glossary of Linguistic Terms
  2. Stephen Frye: There is no wrong English
  3. Ethnologue: An encyclopedic reference work cataloguing all of the world’s almost 7000 known living languages
  4. Weird Al Jankovic: student discuss difference between prescriptive and descriptive grammar: Word Crimes 
  5. Grammar Nazis (fashion police/grammar police)
  6. John McWhorter, linguist, on "bad" English

Handouts

  1. Child language acquisition
  2. Evidence of language change in progress
  3. Native speaker intuition
  4. Northern cities vowel shift